Dubai: The Gulf markets have been a source of hope for the global ad industry. These are markets that have gotten back into a growth trajectory, meaning more ad dollars to spread around. Then there is the youth demographic, which makes this territory even more compelling for brands and their promoters.
“This growth is indeed a good sign because if you look at Western European markets with the exception of UK, they have shown signs of sliding,” said Federico De Nardis of Maxus. “In the last few years, we have noticed the region is fast growing on the digital front in comparison to the entire world.
“Even though digital is growing in double-digits in terms of billings, the base is still small and requires more time to develop to full potential. As of now, it is not cannibalising mainstream media spends to a great extent, but, yes, it’s likely to happen in future. Mobile in this respect is the game changer, because it’s spreading a new way of media consumption where TV and print are losing power.
“At present we are focused on internal development for our digital talents. We believe it is too important to have solid, experienced and integrated teams to answer all our client requirements and therefore is vital to grow these teams internally. Buying specialised agencies is always a choice and will be considered in the near future in this region ... but it’s always more time consuming to integrate those within existing agencies.”
